Hi all, sorry for real long absence. It’s been a strenuous few months, the tough time of my life when God decided to test my inner strength and helped me grow. I’ve been everywhere, with wonderful nature, from SoCal to NorCal, with the most evil city, aka New York, and with God (Buddha, in our language) in Tibet. I will fill you in slowly.

Let’s start from Tibet where I was filled with so much positive energy that helped me heal and got me closer to understanding the real meaning of life, where I learned that forgiving and letting go feels beautiful and powerful, even though sometimes to hate is way easier. Everything happens for a reason, always for a good reason. Because of this, we should be grateful, even of the harsh things that test our strength in an unpleasant way. It is what we learn out of the difficult time and what we become that matter. Here are the photos I took in Tibet and Samye. I will show you the incredible natural landscape and talk about travel tips in another post.

The Potala Palace , home of the Dalai Lama until late 50s. It is situated on a slope of Moburi (Red Mountain) and considered the quintessence of Tibetan architecture. You must get tickets at least one day in advance in order to get in. It is about 30 min walk from the ground level to the main entrance of the palace. Don’t walk too fast, otherwise you will get elevation sickness. Quite a few people pass out during/after the trip.

Jokhang Temple (Lhasa), the most sacred temple in Tibet. Everyday thousands of pilgrims arrive at dawn to walk clockwise around the temple three times. When they pray, they place palms, elbows, toes, knees and forehead on the floor, in order to show reverence. It is quite disrespectful to take pictures of the pilgrims without their consent, so remember to ask them before you do so. Jokhang Temple was built for Princess WenCheng (Chinese) and Princess Bhrikuti (Nepalese) and therefore the architectural style is a mixture of Indian, Chinese (of the Tang Dynasty) and Nepalese style.

Barkhor Street, the busiest street to shop and dine. If you heart bohemian style, you may go overboard with the jewelries like I did. Make sure you bargain, try starting from about 50% of the price they ask (yes, I said 50%!)

Samye Monastery, the first Buddhist monastery built in Tibet. Its layout is based on the structure of universe in the eyes of Buddha: the main temple in the center symbolizing the mythical palace on top of Mt. Meru, surrounding this is the “ocean”, with 4 smaller temples representing the great island-continents, and 8 representing subcontinents. It takes about 4-5 hours to get there from Lhasa, not at all an easy trip, but it will worth it if you are a Buddhist. Here’s how to get there:

by bus & boat– First, take a bus from Lhasa West Suburban Station to Samye Dock. It will take you 3 hours. Second, take a boat to Samye Monastery.

by bus– There are buses bounding for Samye Monastery at Jokhang Temple Square at 6 and 7 a.m.